Coexistence without domination

I25

To me winning would be being able to live life without feeling like I owe something….I think it really depends on the situation. I think it's safe to say that if there were no need for prisons, no need for borders, or money, all of these sort of institutionalized methods of control, I think if you got rid of all those and just had the co-existence of people working, living together and not depleting and stripping the ecosystem in which they're placed, to me I guess that would be [winning].

Solidarity and sectarianism

I11

After the student day of action, the organizers of the student day of action, sent a really, really nasty message about why did we have to go and yell chants that weren't the chants they wanted us to yell. Like, ‘what was that all about? Are you trying to act more radical than [us?]’ It felt like we'd kind of gone out in solidarity with them…..So after that I felt like we weren't on the same team.

Living collectively without the state

I19

I don't think we can get that far if we keep getting concessions from the state….What do I think is the way forward? I think...we have to be more creative about thinking collectively to get things done. Being able to imagine that it actually is possible that we can get things done without the state or whatever other institution it is that we're talking about.

The end of the world?

I19

I don't believe we're that close to the end of civilization as some people would have us believe in terms of an ecological crisis. I think here, where we're situated, it'll be a long time before we feel the worst effects of that. I don't think that's true everywhere and what that leads to remains to be seen I guess but I don't think here that's imminent, at least that's my impression….Maybe I am more confident that I'm going to see the end of the world in some sense than I actually am that I'm going to see the end of capitalism.

Precarity and inertia

I9

I think...one of the most present problems right now is...how precarious everything is around us in terms of our living spaces, we have no control over [them], we...pay all this rent [and] it's just burned off….The places we work, we have no control over the vast majority of them so that we're just thrust around here and there. We're fired with no notice, we have to deal with all kinds of unfair working conditions depending on the whim of the employers and this creates a lot of problems for everyone. We're stressed out, we're just left with no energy and time at the end of the day other than to watch TV or zone out or whatever.

Crisis and opportunity

I12

I think along with the situation looking grim it's also maybe inspiring for some people who have already become politicized through some sort of radical resistance. I've often had the conversation with people who will say that they can't wait for the situation to get worse. As things become more desperate more people tend to seek other options for change and maybe they're seeing current vehicles for change as just not even an option anymore. Seeing other places in the world like Italy, the UK, Tunisia, Nigeria having large...uprising[s is]...inspiring.

Difference and possibility

I19

I think imagination…[is] the ability to think of something different, to enact something different, to believe that something different is possible.

Coming to terms with privilege

I21

We need to know what we don't know. We need to know our privileges, our intellectual, social, economic privileges and how they actually intersect with other people. Not to feel guilty all day long not that…[w]hiny, guilty shit. We are unable to cross over because we don't know what we don't know. So we actually believe everybody in the world lives like we do, we actually believe that nobody goes to church, we actually believe that nobody lives in the suburbs, we believe all of that. I don't know how we've come to believe these ridiculous untruthful things but we've come to believe them.

Multiple paths

I26

So our strategies are influenced by the [institutional] foothold we have and us wanting to hang onto that. And the strategies of this other [radical] group that might be coming up are in reaction to their perception of us failing at [being radical enough,] so they're going to do it. So their strategies and tactics are going to be different and I think in order for [social change to happen] they both need to be in place.

Imagination and living otherwise

I5

I think that the imagination is what animates really robust, resilient, dynamic social struggles. So in that way the radical imagination has to speak to how we [are] going to organize ourselves. How are we going to make sure, for instance, while we're busy imagining how our radical action is going to change the world that people with kids or with different abilities are going to be able to be a part of this? How are we going to meet the needs of people on the ground? How are we going to make sure that we have the resources to sustain people? How are we going to make sure that we protect each other from oppression whether internally or externally? And I think imagination has something to say to all those things and for me imagination is that. It's the social imagination of a people’s spirit to resist and live otherwise than they do right now.